For MeinMMO editor Maik Schneider, the graphics of video games are secondary. He has no eye for it. Gameplay comes first, then there’s a while where nothing comes next. However, even Maik was left speechless during the campaign of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
Functional graphics, expansive gameplay – from my perspective, all games can focus on this balance. Who cares how good a game looks if it plays damn well?
Unfortunately, I don’t like the answer to that. Because there are many players out there who have certain expectations regarding the appearance of their games. I don’t fall into that category and am therefore somewhat in the minority.
Modern Warfare 2 has shown me in its campaign why this is actually the case. The mission in Amsterdam is clearly designed to dazzle a bit with the graphics. But wow, does it look good. See for yourself:
In our video, the visuals suffer a bit; currently, we only have videos available in 720p resolution. But even the detail richness, the reflective surfaces, the trees – almost like a real walk by the Amstel. I was completely amazed. The footage is from the PS5 version.
This gave me a small glimpse into the direction graphics will head towards in the future. The visuals of MW2 are far from photorealistic. Especially when looking at the pedestrians, it’s quickly clear that we are still in a video game.
But the environments are quite impressive. If CoD MW2 were a pedestrian zone simulator with only one visitor, I could hardly distinguish at many corners whether the pictures are real shots or video game graphics.
I was also surprised by the animations of the street band that one encounters during the mission. The three artists interact with each other, they are having fun and entertaining their listeners. And the woman at the keyboard actually uses her instrument quite realistically – it’s just that the keys don’t move.
However, there was a moment a little later in the campaign where I was somewhat disappointed by the graphics. Mirrors apparently still pose a certain problem:
All in all, the visuals genuinely impressed me. Good graphics rarely catch my eye, but this time it completely hit me.
Modern Warfare 2 has shown me where the journey can go. Although I have seen several demos of Unreal Engine 5 that were hardly distinguishable from the real world, it’s still something different to see something like that in a game.
And now I’m even curious how far games can push their graphics in the future.
Leave me a comment with your thoughts on the topic. Can you perhaps recommend a game that might surprise me similarly with its graphics?
If you’d like to find out more about Modern Warfare 2, you can find all information here: All information about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – Release, content, and leaks
